North Star

From autoblog:

Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S lead list of fastest-selling cars
By Zach Bowman RSS feed
Posted Jun 20th 2012 4:57PM


Subaru and Scion dealers are having no trouble finding homes for BRZ and FR-S models. The sport coupes are ranked one and two on the list of cars that spend the fewest days on dealer lots. According to Edmunds, the BRZ takes just four days to turn, followed by the FR-S at five days. On average, it takes dealers 53 days to move new models. Both machines are surrounded by a halo of buzz and plenty of pent-up demand. Subaru began selling the BRZ in the U.S. at the end of April, while Scion gave the first 86 FR-S buyers the chance to come to California for a little track time in their new purchases.

Then there's the issue of low supply. Toyota will only sell 10,000 Scion FR-S units in the U.S. this year while Subaru will only offer buyers 6,000 BRZ coupes. That number will increase in 2013, but that's a long time from now. According to The New York Times, in Japan, the initial interest in the BRZ was a full four times higher than Subaru anticipated.

Why are the production numbers so low while demand seems so high? Subaru based its production predictions on WRX sales, and estimated a rear-wheel-drive model would see lower interest. Turns out, at least initially, Subaru was a bit too conservative.

rockville

Certainly there is a pent up demand for this sort of car and keeping the volumes low will also help. However, will it have staying power? On one hand I see this being a single model run car. Unlike the Miata for Mazda, neither Toyota nor Subaru need this car to stay in the public eye. On the other hand, it probably was not too expensive to design given that it's a modified Impreza chassis and driveline (with a non-Subi gearbox). In the future this RWD varient might become a part of the Impreza platform planning. BTW, doing a proper job of going from AWD to RWD does take more than just removing the front axles.

I would like to see it do well but I think once the pent up demand is gone the car will follow. I don't think there is a big market for a low cost (including a budget looking interior) RWD coupe of limited practicality. I think most buyers will either feel it's just too impractical and move to something like a hot hatch or too cheap feeling and move to something like a used BMW or Caymen in a few years or "fun, but" and they find a convertible even more fun (Miata, used S2000... until those get too old, used Boxster etc).

I really like the car in concept. Not in love with the looks and I don't see my self enjoying it as much as an S2000 or Miata. It might be the better handling car and might be better on the track but I can enjoy the Miata or S2k for top down driving as much as hard cornering.

termigni

interesting. thx for the article.

Switchblade

Nice! The Subaru dealership down the road from the GM dealership I work at (our sister store) sold quite a few already.

DISCONTD

Good for Toyota and Subaru. selling cars made for enthusiasts, lets hope it will spark the auto industry to make stuff people want to drive and not one model with 8 different trims (civic)

North Star

I just hope this gets other companies to get in on the trend. That would be really cool to have a number of small RWD coupes and sedans to choose from. The more the merrier.

JonBoy

Just for reference, the CR-Z sold 5349 units in the first four months, which is nearly the total production for the BR-Z for this calendar year. Now, Honda is lucky to sell a few hundred a month.

I'm in no way directly comparing the CR-Z to these cars, just showing that initial hype/demand (and thus, initial sales) are rarely indicative of the long-term sales potential of a particular vehicle. With Toyota/Subaru limiting the actual production, I expect they'll sell most if not all of the vehicles for quite a while (it's about 800 a month for Toyota and 500 a month for Subaru). My question is, could they sell double or triple that amount?

RT-B2

Probably the most anticipated car from Japan in a decade, the last being the Evolution/STi. The GTR might have been the most significant since the early 90's, but probably too unrealistic for too many fans. The price is very competitive and the styling grabs attention. Hard to imagine that every kid that bought and loved their tC or xB isn't going apesh*t for a FRS by now. I mean, our own S2000 forum has a goddamn sticky thread devoted to a car that isn't a Honda. So my guess, it's here for a while.

i_heart_my_DB8

ORLY?





I seem to remember these cars causing quite a stir...

Presto123

^ he did say the GTR might be out of budget for most enthusiasts.

I don't think this car will be produced for a long run but nobody thought that about the S2000 either.